The Connecticut countryside faces invading hordes — of plants, and Yale’s landscaping is complicit in the onslaught, said ecologists from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. Yale’s plants include nonnative species that take over local ecosystems. These invasive species drive out plants and animals that do belong in these ecosystems and can eventually »

While most Yalies sleep, some of the University’s buildings stay up burning the midnight bulb. In the University’s Sustainability Strategic Plan 2010-2013, released this month, Yale administrators announced their intent to evaluate and improve the energy efficiency of the campus’s buildings. Michael Stringer, a central campus facilities supervisor, said that reviewing sources of energy consumption »

HAMDEN — At the Yale Library Storage Facility (LSF) in Hamden, books are not judged by their covers. Instead, they are judged in terms of space.Yale’s libraries have a fixed amount of space, so books are moved from campus libraries to LSF to make room for the 250,000 new items Yale purchases every year. The »

When Katie Miller ’12 met her suitemates last week, she had to introduce herself with a reporter from The Hartford Courant in tow. Miller transferred to Morse College this year from the United States Military Academy at West Point in reaction to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which bans service members from openly displaying »

A new dome-headed dinosaur discovered in Big Bend, Texas, is one more reason to believe that North America was once a hotbed of dinosaur diversity. Nick Longrich, a postdoctoral associate in the Geology and Geophysics Department, announced the discovery of Texacephale Langstoni in an article in the April issue of the journal Cretaceous Research. The »

Users of Dawn and Suave soap and shampoo products may be inadvertently releasing carcinogen-forming chemicals into drinking water, according to a study published March 31 by chemical engineering professor William Mitch. The chemical, N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), is used as an industrial solvent and has been identified by the Environmental Protection Agency as a potential drinking water »

Jonathan McMaster ’12 thought he had left enough time to get to the Law School prom from his Prospect Street apartment Saturday night. He boarded a Yale Transit bus, and it began traveling down Huntington Street when the vehicle started accelerating downhill, reaching about 45 miles per hour. It hit the right embankment, swerved left, »

The practice of law wears down man’s ethics, Rudy Baylor warned an audience of about 100 law students. Baylor, a newly licensed lawyer, is the protagonist of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1996 adaptation of John Grisham’s “The Rainmaker,” which was screened Monday afternoon at the Law School auditorium, followed by a discussion with the bestselling author. »

Climate change is decreasing the agricultural productivity of the Great Plains, America’s bread basket, said Melinda Smith, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, at this week’s Colloquium on Food, Agriculture, and the Environment, which drew a crowd of 18 to Kroon Hall’s Burke auditorium Wednesday evening. During the 90-minute lecture Smith discussed climate change’s »

Even the Yale College Dean’s Office is interested in Yale’s sex scene. With the overhaul of its Web site this coming summer, the Dean’s Office will post a new student-generated essay collection under the title “sex@yale.” The site will include 500- to 1,000-word essays by current undergraduates, allowing them to reflect anonymously on their sexual »

While Yale students have proven their prowess in final exams and standardized tests, when it comes to testing for sexually transmitted infections, there is still room for improvement. According to a poll of 1,770 undergraduate Yalies conducted by the News, only half of sexually active females and 35.3 percent of sexually active males have been »

For a generation of high school students raised watching viral videos and splashy television shows, Yale’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions is venturing into pop culture with a new promotional video — and it’s a musical! The Admissions Office will post its new video — “That’s Why I Chose Yale” — in high definition on YouTube, »